Officials with a port in the U.S. state of Oregon and representatives from a regional seafood processor trade group have joined forces to seek funding for a wastewater treatment plant for processors based at the port.
The International Port of Coos Bay and the West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA), in conjunction with local processors, submitted a grant proposal to Businesses Oregon, a state agency the provides economic and community development support.
The groups seek USD 50,000 (EUR 45,500) to conduct a feasibility study for a treatment center. WCSPA would match USD 25,000 (EUR 22,750) toward the study.
WCSPA Executive Director Lori Steele said the treatment plant would be a huge benefit to the processing industry in southern Oregon. The port is located in Charleston, about 75 miles southwest from Eugene and 120 miles from Salem, the state capital.
“This project demonstrates the port's commitment to support and sustain our industry in southern Oregon, and for that we are very grateful,” Steele said in a statement.
Proponents of the plan say a multi-user facility would be a cost-effective way for processors, which face increasing regulatory challenges, to handle waste. The facility would also allow processors to capture organic material that they could reuse rather than have it shipped off to a landfill.
The groups have been working with local companies for about a year to learn their challenges and needs as well as come together to find a solution.
“This project will lay the groundwork to construct a facility that will support the day-to-day operations of the entire commercial fishing industry on Oregon’s south coast,” Port of Coos Bay CEO John Burns said in a release. “Additionally, this project will serve as a demonstration for other coastal communities as a creative public and private partnership solution to challenges facing the industry as a whole.”
Photo courtesy of Manuela Durson/Shutterstock
